System and method of controlling operation of a device having an optical sensor

ABSTRACT

System and method of controlling operation of an optical sensor in a device. The optical sensor is configured to employ a scan pattern to scan respective portions of a full field of view. A navigation sensor is configured to obtain location coordinates of the device. An inertial sensor is configured to obtain an acceleration data of the device in a plurality of directions. A controller is configured to determine a position of the device at the present time based in part on the location coordinates and the acceleration data. The controller is configured to determine a sun striking zone based in part on a relative position of the sun and the device. When a sun overlap region between the respective portions of the full field of view and sun striking zone exceeds a first overlap threshold, operation of the optical sensor is modified.

INTRODUCTION

The present disclosure relates to a system and method of controllingoperation of a device having an optical sensor. Optical sensor systemsare often employed in automobiles and other transportation devices toprovide a visual image of areas surrounding the devices. The devices mayencounter bright light sources which may cause the optical sensors to besaturated and momentarily unable to perform measurements in the field ofview of the optical sensor.

SUMMARY

Disclosed herein is a system and method of controlling operation of adevice having at least one optical sensor. The optical sensor isoperatively connected to the device and configured to employ a scanpattern to scan respective portions of a full field of view. The systemincludes a navigation sensor, such as a global positioning satellite(GPS) sensor, configured to obtain location coordinates of the device.An inertial sensor is configured to obtain an acceleration data of thedevice in a plurality of directions. A controller is operativelyconnected to the device and includes a processor and tangible,non-transitory memory on which instructions are recorded.

Execution of the instructions by the processor causes the controller todetermine a position of the device at a present time, based in part onthe location coordinates from the navigation sensor and the accelerationdata from the inertial sensor. The controller is configured to determinea sun striking zone based on a relative position of the sun at thepresent time, the position of the device and a calendar date. Thecontroller is configured to determine a sun overlap region between therespective portions of the full field of view and the sun striking zoneat the present time. When the sun overlap region of at least one of therespective portions exceeds a first overlap threshold, operation of theoptical sensor is modified. In one example, the first overlap thresholdis at least 50% of at least one of the respective portions of theoptical sensor.

The scan pattern may include scanning the respective portions of thefull field of view for a respective dwell time in a predefined order.Modifying the operation of the optical sensor may include at least oneof: changing the predefined order of the scan pattern such that thescanning of the at least one of the respective portions (i.e., therespective portion associated with the sun overlap region) is before orafter the present time, reducing the respective dwell time and skippingthe at least one of the respective portions (i.e., the respectiveportion associated with the sun overlap region).

The system may include a map database configured to store a plannedroute of the device and accessible to the controller. The controller maybe configured to determine a projected position of the device at afuture time based in part on the planned route and the position of thedevice at the present time. The controller may be configured todetermine the sun striking zone (projected) based on the relativeposition of the sun at the future time, the projected position of thedevice and the calendar date. The controller may be configured todetermine the sun overlap region (projected) between the respectiveportions of the full field of view and the sun striking zone at thefuture time. Operation of the optical sensor is modified when the sunoverlap region (projected) exceeds the first overlap threshold at thefuture time. Additionally, the controller may receive externalinformation pertaining to the weather conditions in the expected areathe travel has been planned for, such as fog, rain, snow, sleet, withthe external information improving the predictive performance of thesystem.

The system may include a radar unit configured to detect the relativeposition of an oncoming device emitting a light beam, and a photosensorconfigured to determine an intensity of the light beam. The controllermay be configured to determine if the intensity exceeds a high beamthreshold. When the intensity exceeds the high beam threshold, thecontroller may be configured to determine a beam overlap region betweenthe respective portions of the full field of view and the light beam.The scan pattern is modified when the beam overlap region exceeds asecond overlap threshold. In one example, the high beam threshold isselected to be between 60 Watts and 70 Watts, inclusive.

The above features and advantages and other features and advantages ofthe present disclosure are readily apparent from the following detaileddescription of the best modes for carrying out the disclosure when takenin connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic partly-perspective illustration of a system 10 forcontrolling operation of a device having at least one optical sensor anda controller;

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the device of FIG. 1, illustrating aplanned route along a surface; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow diagram for a method executable by thecontroller of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numbers refer to likecomponents, FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a system 10 for controllingoperation of a device 12 in real-time. The device 12 includes at leastone optical sensor 14 configured to provide an image about the device12. The location of the optical sensor 14 on the device 12 may be variedbased on the application at hand. The device 12 may include additionaloptical sensors, such as a second optical sensor 16 shown in FIG. 1. Thedevice 12 may be a mobile platform such as, but not limited to, apassenger car, sport utility car, light truck, heavy duty truck, ATV,minivan, bus, transit vehicle, bicycle, robot, farm implement (e.g.tractor), sports-related equipment (e.g. golf cart), boat, airplane andtrain. The device 12 may take many different forms and include multipleand/or alternate components and facilities.

The optical sensor 14 is shown in greater detail in the inset of FIG. 1.The optical sensor 14 may be a camera employing photons in the visibleand ultra-violet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The opticalsensor 14 may be a LIDAR sensor having solar illumination as a dominantlimitation in the lidar range detection. In the example shown in FIG. 1,the optical sensor 14 includes a lens 18 and a plurality of detectors 20configured to image a full field of view 22. The plurality of detectors20 may be configured to provide an electrical signal based on respectiveirradiances on their respective active surfaces. The optical sensor 14may include other components (not shown) available to those skilled inthe art, such as for example, mirrors, dispersion devices, apertures,modulators and an integrated processing unit.

Referring to FIG. 1, a controller C is operatively connected to thedevice 12 and includes at least one processor P and at least one memoryM (or non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium) onwhich are instructions are recorded for executing a method 100 ofcontrolling operation of the device 12, described in detail below withrespect to FIG. 3. The memory M can store controller-executableinstruction sets, and the processor P can execute thecontroller-executable instruction sets stored in the memory M.

Referring to FIG. 1, the optical sensor 14 may be configured to employ ascan pattern 24 to scan the respective portions 25 of the full field ofview 22 for a respective dwell time in a predefined order. Therespective portions 25 may include a first portion 26, second portion28, third portion 30, fourth portion 32 and a fifth portion 34. Therespective portions 25 may have different sizes. The respective dwelltime and the predefined order are controllable and may be dynamicallyadjusted by the controller C.

Referring to FIG. 1, the controller C may receive input from a pluralityof sensors operatively connected to the device 12, such as for example,a navigation sensor 40, an inertial sensor 42, a radar unit 44 and aphotosensor 46. Referring to FIG. 1, the navigation sensor 40, which maybe a global positioning satellite (GPS) sensor, is configured to obtainlocation coordinates or location coordinates of the device 12, forexample, latitude and longitude values. Referring to FIG. 1, theinertial sensor 42 is configured to obtain an acceleration data of thedevice 12 in a plurality of directions, for example acceleration (a_(x),a_(y), a_(z)) along an X axis, a Y axis and a Z axis (X axis and Z axisshown in FIG. 1, the Y axis goes out of the page). The inertial sensor42 may include one or more accelerometers and one or more gyroscopes todetermine linear acceleration and rotational rates, respectively. Theinertial sensor 42 may include a magnetometer or other componentavailable to those skilled in the art. For example, the inertial sensor42 may include a respective accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer(not shown) per axis for a pitch axis, a roll axis and a raw axis. Asdescribed below and referring to FIG. 1, the controller C uses the datagenerated by the navigation sensor 40 and inertial sensor 42 todetermine the relative position, including the orientation, of thedevice 12 to the sun S.

Referring to FIG. 1, the controller C has access to or is incommunication with a map database 48 and a cloud unit 50. The cloud unit50 may be a public or commercial source of information available tothose skilled in the art, such as for example, Google Earth.Alternatively, the map database 48 may be loaded onto the memory M ofthe controller C. The device 12 may be configured to receive andtransmit wireless communication to the map database 48 and the cloudunit 50, through a mobile application 52 and a wireless network 54. Themobile application 52 may be integral with or physically connected (e.g.wired) to the controller C, such that it has physical access to the datain the controller C. The mobile application 52 may be built into and runon an infotainment system of the device 12. The circuitry and componentsof a cloud unit 50 and mobile application 52 (“apps”) available to thoseskilled in the art may be employed.

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the device 12, illustrating a plannedroute 68 of the device 12 along a surface 70. The map database 48 (seeFIG. 1) is configured to store the planned route 68 of the device 12.The controller C may be configured to determine a projected position 72of the device 12 at a future time based in part on the planned route 68and the position of the device 12 at the present time. Additionally, thecontroller C may receive external information pertaining to the weatherconditions in the expected area the travel has been planned for, such asfog, rain, snow, sleet, (for example through the cloud unit 50), theexternal information improving the predictive performance of the system10.

Referring to FIG. 2, the radar unit 44 is configured to detect therelative position of an oncoming vehicle 74 emitting a light beam 76(stippled in FIG. 2). Referring to FIG. 2, the photosensor 46 isconfigured to determine an intensity of the light beam 76. The radarunit 44 may include multiple embedded components (not shown), such as atransmitter producing electromagnetic waves in the radio or microwavedomain, a transmitting antenna, a receiving antenna, a receiver and anintegrated processor. The electromagnetic waves reflect off an object,such as vehicle 74 in FIG. 2 and return to the radar unit 44, providinginformation about the location and speed of the vehicle 74. The radardata may include a radial distance (r) of the vehicle 74 from the device12, a relative angle and a range rate (dr/dt). The photosensor 46 mayinclude one or more photocells, such as light-responding silicon chips,that convert incident radiant energy into electrical current, as well ascorresponding circuitry.

The optical sensor 14 of FIGS. 1-2 may be saturated by directly viewinga bright source of light. Referring to FIG. 1, one example of a brightsource of light is the sun S, particularly at low angles in the earlymorning hours or evening. Due to the Earth's orbit around the sun S andthe Earth's rotation around its tilted axis, the angle at which sunlightstrikes the Earth varies by location, time of day, and season. Referringto FIG. 2, another example of a bright light source is the oncomingvehicle 74 with a light beam 76 of high intensity directed towards theoptical sensor 14. Method 100 is configured to reduce the occurrence ofa saturation event by adapting the scan pattern 24 dynamically to adjustto the environmental conditions encountered by the device 12. Thecontroller C (via execution of method 100) is configured to determine ifthe respective portions 25 of the full field of view 22 of the opticalsensor 14 will include imaging the sun S and/or a light beam 76 of highintensity directly and dynamically adapt the scan pattern 24accordingly.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a flowchart of the method 100 stored on andexecutable by the controller C of FIG. 1 is shown. Method 100 need notbe applied in the specific order recited herein. Furthermore, it is tobe understood that some steps may be eliminated. Per block 102 of FIG.3, the controller C may be programmed to determine if the present timeis nighttime, which may be defined as the time of darkness or betweensunset and sunrise. Alternatively, the controller C may be programmed todetermine if the present time is daytime, which may be defined as thetime when the sun S is visible or between sunrise and sunset.

If it is not nighttime (and is daytime), the method 100 proceeds toblock 104. Per block 104, the controller C is programmed to obtain datafrom the navigation sensor 40 and the inertial sensor 42 at the presenttime, and determine a position of the device 12 at the present timebased in part on the location coordinates and the acceleration data. Themethod 100 proceeds to block 106 from block 104. The position of thedevice 12 includes the orientation (e.g. which way it is facing) of thedevice 12. The orientation of the optical sensor 14 may be obtained fromthe orientation of the device 12 and where the optical sensor 14 isfixedly mounted on the device 12. If there are multiple optical sensors,the orientation of each optical sensor is similarly obtained andanalysis conducted for each (as described below).

Per block 106, the controller C is programmed to determine a sunstriking zone 60 based on a relative position of the sun S at thepresent time, the position of the device 12 at the present time and acalendar date. The sun striking zone 60 may be defined as a continuous3-D region or cone where the intensity of the incident solar raysexceeds a predefined minimum, measured via the photosensor 46. Theenvironmental analysis of block 106 may be continuously updated by thedevice 12.

Referring to FIG. 1, the relative position of the sun S (relative to apoint on the Earth's surface) may be specified in terms of a zenithangle (a), an azimuth angle (A) and a reference line from the sun S toan origin of an XYZ coordinate system (X axis and Z axis shown in FIG.1, the Y axis goes out of the page). The zenith angle (a) may be definedas between the reference line and a plane (X-Y plane in this case)parallel to the Earth's surface. The azimuth angle (A) may be definedbetween a reference axis (X axis in the case) and a projection of thereference line on the plane (X-Y plane in this case) parallel to theEarth's surface. An example program to determine the relative positionof the sun S is available from the National Oceanographic andAtmospheric Administration's website(https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/). Other methods availableto those skilled in the art may be employed.

Per block 108, the controller C is configured to determine a sun overlapregion 62 between the respective portions 25 of the full field of view22 (from the position and the orientation of the optical sensor 14 inblock 104) and the sun striking zone 60 (from block 106) at the presenttime. Per block 108, the controller C is programmed to determine if asun overlap region 62 of at least one of the respective portions 25 isat or above a first overlap threshold (T₁ in FIG. 3). If so, the method100 proceeds to block 110 of FIG. 3. If not, the method 100 loops backto block 104. In one example, the first overlap threshold is defined tobe at or above 50% of at least one of the respective portions 25 of theoptical sensor 14. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the sun overlapregion 62 of the second portion 28 exceeds the first overlap threshold.

Per block 110 of FIG. 3, the controller C is configured to control ormodify operation of the optical sensor 14, including modifying the scanpattern 24 to avoid saturation exposures of optical sensor 14. Modifyingthe scan pattern 24 may include changing the predefined order such thatthe scanning of the respective portion associated with the sun overlapregion 62 is before or after the present time. Modifying the scanpattern 24 may include reducing the respective dwell time of therespective portion associated with the sun overlap region 62. Modifyingthe scan pattern 24 may include skipping the respective portionassociated with the sun overlap region 62. Other modifications may bemade, for example, disabling the optical sensor 14.

Referring back to block 102, if it is nighttime, the method 100 proceedsto block 112. Per block 112, the controller C is programmed to determinethe relative position of an oncoming vehicle 74 (see FIG. 2) emitting alight beam 76, via the radar unit 44 and determine an intensity of thelight beam 76, via the photosensor 46. The method 100 proceeds to block114. Per block 114, the controller C is configured to determine if theintensity of the light beam 76 exceeds a high beam threshold (L₀ in FIG.3). If so, the method 100 proceeds to block 116. In one example, thehigh beam threshold (L₀ in FIG. 3) is between 2 Watts and 40 Watts,inclusive. In another example, the high beam threshold (L₀ in FIG. 3) isabout 20 Watts.

Per block 116 of FIG. 3 and referring to FIG. 2, the controller C isprogrammed to determine the extent of the light beam 76 based on arelative position and orientation of the oncoming device 74. Per block116, the controller C is programmed to determine a beam overlap region78 (hatched in FIG. 2) between the field of view 22 of the opticalsensor 14 and the light beam 76. If the beam overlap region 78 exceeds asecond overlap threshold (T₂ in FIG. 3), the method 100 proceeds toblock 110, where the controller C is programmed to control operation ofthe optical sensor 14, as described above. In one example, the secondoverlap threshold (T₂ in FIG. 3) is greater than the first overlapthreshold (T₁ in FIG. 3).

Additionally, per block 104 of FIG. 3, the controller C may beconfigured to determine the projected position 72 (see FIG. 2) of thedevice 12 at a future time, based in part on the planned route 68 (seeFIG. 2) and the position of the device 12 at the present time. Per block106 of FIG. 3, the controller C may be configured to determine the sunstriking zone 60 (projected) based on the relative position of the sun Sat the future time, the projected position 72 of the device 12 at thefuture time and the calendar date. Referring to FIG. 1, the controller Cmay be configured to determine the sun overlap region 62 (projected) ofthe respective portions 25 of the optical sensor 14 and the sun strikingzone 60 at the future time. Operation of the optical sensor 14 ismodified when the sun overlap region 62 (projected) of one of therespective portions 25 exceeds the first overlap threshold (T₁ in FIG.3).

In summary, the system 10 improves the functioning of the device 12 bycombining the location coordinates of the device 12 on the earth'ssurface, time, date (day, month year), the relative position of the sunS in the sky, the inertial directions of acceleration of the device 12and the intensity of a light beam 76 from an oncoming vehicle 74 tomaximize the efficiency of the optical sensor 14 in the daytime and thenighttime. This efficiency of the optical sensor 14 at a future time maybe maximized by obtaining the expected route 68 of the device 12 (e.g.from the map database 48) to obtain a projected position 72 of thedevice 12 at a future time.

The controller C of FIG. 1 may be an integral portion of, or a separatemodule operatively connected to, other controllers of the device 12. Thecontroller C includes a computer-readable medium (also referred to as aprocessor-readable medium), including a non-transitory (e.g., tangible)medium that participates in providing data (e.g., instructions) that maybe read by a computer (e.g., by a processor of a computer). Such amedium may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatilemedia and volatile media. Non-volatile media may include, for example,optical or magnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatile mediamay include, for example, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which mayconstitute a main memory. Such instructions may be transmitted by one ormore transmission media, including coaxial cables, copper wire and fiberoptics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupled to aprocessor of a computer. Some forms of computer-readable media include,for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape,other magnetic media, a CD-ROM, DVD, other optical media, punch cards,paper tape, other physical media with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM,an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, other memory chips or cartridges, or othermedia from which a computer can read.

Look-up tables, databases, data repositories or other data storesdescribed herein may include various kinds of mechanisms for storing,accessing, and retrieving various kinds of data, including ahierarchical database, a set of files in a file system, an applicationdatabase in a proprietary format, a relational database managementsystem (RDBMS), etc. Each such data store may be included within acomputing device employing a computer operating system such as one ofthose mentioned above, and may be accessed via a network in one or moreof a variety of manners. A file system may be accessible from a computeroperating system, and may include files stored in various formats. AnRDBMS may employ the Structured Query Language (SQL) in addition to alanguage for creating, storing, editing, and executing storedprocedures, such as the PL/SQL language mentioned above.

The detailed description and the drawings or FIGS. are supportive anddescriptive of the disclosure, but the scope of the disclosure isdefined solely by the claims. While some of the best modes and otherembodiments for carrying out the claimed disclosure have been describedin detail, various alternative designs and embodiments exist forpracticing the disclosure defined in the appended claims. Furthermore,the embodiments shown in the drawings or the characteristics of variousembodiments mentioned in the present description are not necessarily tobe understood as embodiments independent of each other. Rather, it ispossible that each of the characteristics described in one of theexamples of an embodiment can be combined with one or a plurality ofother desired characteristics from other embodiments, resulting in otherembodiments not described in words or by reference to the drawings.Accordingly, such other embodiments fall within the framework of thescope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for controlling operation of a device,the system comprising: at least one optical sensor operatively connectedto the device and configured to employ a scan pattern to scan respectiveportions of a full field of view; a controller operatively connected tothe device and including a processor and tangible, non-transitory memoryon which instructions are recorded; a navigation sensor in communicationwith the controller and configured to obtain a location coordinates ofthe device; an inertial sensor in communication with the controller andconfigured to obtain an acceleration data of the device in a pluralityof directions; wherein execution of the instructions by the processorcauses the controller to: determine a position of the device at apresent time based in part on the location coordinates from thenavigation sensor and the acceleration data from the inertial sensor;determine a sun striking zone based on a relative position of a sun atthe present time, the position of the device and a calendar date;determine a sun overlap region between the respective portions of thefull field of view and the sun striking zone at the present time; andmodify operation of the at least one optical sensor when the sun overlapregion of at least one of the respective portions exceeds a firstoverlap threshold.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first overlapthreshold is at least 50% of the at least one of the respective portionsof the full field of view.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein: the scanpattern includes scanning the respective portions of the full field ofview for a respective dwell time in a predefined order; and modifyingthe operation of the at least one optical sensor includes changing thepredefined order of the scan pattern such that the scanning of the atleast one of the respective portions is delayed.
 4. The system of claim1, wherein: the scan pattern includes scanning the respective portionsof the full field of view for a respective dwell time in a predefinedorder; and modifying the operation of the at least one optical sensorincludes reducing the respective dwell time of the at least one of therespective portions.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein: the scan patternincludes scanning the respective portions of the full field of view fora respective dwell time in a predefined order; and modifying theoperation of the at least one optical sensor includes skipping thescanning of the at least one of the respective portions.
 6. The systemof claim 1, further comprising: a map database configured to store aplanned route of the device, the map database being accessible to thecontroller; wherein the controller is configured to: determine aprojected position of the device at a future time based in part on theplanned route and the position of the device at the present time;determine the sun striking zone based on the relative position of thesun at the future time, the projected position of the device and thecalendar date; determine the sun overlap region between the respectiveportions of the full field of view and the sun striking zone at thefuture time; and modify operation of the at least one optical sensorwhen the sun overlap region of one of the respective portions exceedsthe first overlap threshold at the future time.
 7. The system of claim1, further comprising: a radar unit configured to detect a relativeposition of an oncoming device emitting a light beam; a photosensorconfigured to determine an intensity of the light beam; wherein thecontroller is configured to: determine if the intensity exceeds a highbeam threshold; when the intensity exceeds the high beam threshold,determine a beam overlap region between the respective portions of thefull field of view and the light beam; and modify the operation of theat least one optical sensor when the beam overlap region of one of therespective portions exceeds a second overlap threshold.
 8. The system ofclaim 7, wherein: the scan pattern includes scanning the respectiveportions of the full field of view for a respective dwell time in apredefined order; and modifying the operation of the at least oneoptical sensor includes at least one of: changing the predefined orderof the scan pattern such that the scanning of the at least one of therespective portions is delayed, reducing the respective dwell time ofthe at least one of the respective portions, and skipping the scanningof the at least one of the respective portions.
 9. The system of claim7, wherein the high beam threshold is between 60 Watts and 70 Watts,inclusive.
 10. A method of controlling operation of a device inreal-time, the device having at least one optical sensor, a navigationsensor, an inertial sensor and a controller including a processor andtangible, non-transitory memory on which instructions are recorded, themethod comprising: configuring the at least one optical sensor to employa scan pattern to scan respective portions of a full field of view;obtaining a location coordinates of the device via the navigationsensor; obtaining an acceleration data of the device in a plurality ofdirections via the inertial sensor; determining a position of the deviceat a present time based in part on the location coordinates and theacceleration data; determining a sun striking zone based on a relativeposition of a sun at the present time, the position of the device and acalendar date; determining a sun overlap region between the respectiveportions of the full field of view and the sun striking zone at thepresent time; and modifying operation of the at least one optical sensorwhen the sun overlap region of at least one of the respective portionsexceeds a first overlap threshold.
 11. The method of claim 10, whereinthe first overlap threshold is at least 50% of the at least one of therespective portions of the full field of view.
 12. The method of claim10, further comprising: adapting the scan pattern to scan the respectiveportions of the full field of view for a respective dwell time in apredefined order; and modifying the operation of the at least oneoptical sensor by changing the predefined order of the scan pattern suchthat the scanning of the at least one of the respective portions isdelayed.
 13. The method of claim 10, further comprising: adapting thescan pattern to scan the respective portions of the full field of viewfor a respective dwell time in a predefined order; and modifying theoperation of the at least one optical sensor by reducing the respectivedwell time of the at least one of the respective portions.
 14. Themethod of claim 10, further comprising: adapting the scan pattern toscan the respective portions of the full field of view for a respectivedwell time in a predefined order; and modifying the operation of the atleast one optical sensor by skipping the scanning of the at least one ofthe respective portions.
 15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:accessing a map database via the controller, the map database beingconfigured to store a planned route of the device; determining aprojected position of the device at a future time based in part on theplanned route and the position of the device at the present time;determining the sun striking zone based on the relative position of thesun at the future time, the projected position of the device and thecalendar date; determining the sun overlap region between the respectiveportions of the full field of view and the sun striking zone at thefuture time; and modifying operation of the at least one optical sensorwhen the sun overlap region of one of the respective portions exceedsthe first overlap threshold at the future time.
 16. The method of claim10, wherein the device includes a radar unit and a photosensor, themethod further comprising: configuring the radar unit to detect arelative position of an oncoming device emitting a light beam;determining if an intensity of the light beam exceeds a high beamthreshold, via the photosensor; when the intensity exceeds the high beamthreshold, determining a beam overlap region between the respectiveportions of the full field of view and the light beam; and modifying theoperation of the at least one optical sensor when the beam overlapregion of one of the respective portions exceeds a second overlapthreshold.
 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: adapting thescan pattern to scan the respective portions of the full field of viewfor a respective dwell time in a predefined order; and modifying theoperation of the at least one optical sensor by at least one of:changing the predefined order of the scan pattern such that the scanningof the at least one of the respective portions is delayed, reducing therespective dwell time of the at least one of the respective portions,and skipping the scanning of the at least one of the respectiveportions.
 18. The method of claim 16, further comprising: selecting thehigh beam threshold as between 60 Watts and 70 Watts, inclusive.